In a social media post, President Trump has revealed he will appoint Trump administration official Richard Grenell as interim executive director at The Kennedy Center. The move follows the administration's ouster of much of the D.C. arts venue's leadership, part of a plan to place Trump himself as chairman of the formerly bipartisan-run institution.
Grenell has held a number of positions within the Trump administration, including acting director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany; and is currently the special presidential envoy for special missions. It does not appear Grenell has any background in the arts or arts administration. He has been a passionate supporter of President Trump, including advocating on behalf of Trump's as-of-yet unfounded election fraud claims in Nevada. All of the Nevada post-election lawsuits have been either dropped or dismissed, with no verifiable evidence of election fraud found.
Trump terminated much of The Kennedy Center's board of directors last week, posting online that he wants to "make The Kennedy Center great again." Though he has been light on details about what that means, it appears his main grievances are "drag shows" and "anti-American propaganda" on Kennedy Center stages, though it is unclear to which performances he is referring. This administration's control over the venue is wholly unprecedented.
"Throughout our history, the Kennedy Center has enjoyed strong support from members of congress and their staffs—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents," reads a statement from The Kennedy Center released on news of the board members' termination last week. "Since our doors opened in 1971, we have had a collaborative relationship with every presidential administration. Since that time, the Kennedy Center has had a bi-partisan board of trustees that has supported the arts in a non-partisan fashion."
Though it is a non-profit institution, only a small portion of the Kennedy Center's budget comes from the federal government. As the venue's statement shares, the institution "is supported by federal annual appropriations for upkeep and maintenance of the building as a federal memorial, or approximately 16% of the total operating budget." Its artistic programming, on the other hand, is maintained through "ticket sales, donations, rental income, and other revenue sources."
Since his return to the White House, Trump has taken a more controlling approach to the arts. He has also eliminated the Presidential Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, a Reagan-era advisory body that had been disbanded during Trump's first term and then restarted in 2022 by the Biden administration. Executive orders targeting the trans community and DEI efforts have also thrown federal arts funding into chaos, following updated guidelines from the NEA.
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